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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I just concocted a makeshift sickie soup out of 2 cups water boiled with ginger, a bundle of soba noodles, 2 packs of instant miso soup mix, some chopped red onion and sriracha. It is not my finest hour. It looks as unappetizing as it tastes, which is just as unappetizing as it sounds, but I am sick and alone and I need a hot soup lunch that will help clear my sinuses and warm my insides. This is all I could come up with without going to the store.

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If chicken pho (or homemade chicken gumbo) is not readily available, then my fallback is chicken broth w/ginger, garlic, soy, and rice noodles. Or instant spinach-miso soup. FYI, Jazmine Cafe in Riverbend delivers, so you can get some passable pho if you really need it.

I keep a stash of soup in the freezer almost all the time, but I usually make cauliflower soup.

Cut up one head of cauliflower into large chunks. quarters will do. Put in pot, cover with water, bit of salt, boil until it gets soft. Once soft, add some stock (any), smash up the cauliflower with a giant spoon when it starts to give way.

Later on add your favorite soup pasta (I like spirals in this) and a little bit (two to four ounces is enough) of heavy cream, and some black pepper. Eat with some grated cheese on top.

All times approximate and forgiving; if the pasta overcooks that's fine too.

Candice, I love that idea. What is the final texture? Should it be creamy and mixed or brothy with distinctly separate pieces of cauliflower? Is this a good thing to use an immersion blender on? I recently got one as a gift and so far, the only thing I've used it on is hot chocolate.

The end texture varies on how much you cook it. Less cooking = chunky, more cooking = falling to bits. It disintegrates after a night in the fridge and turns really creamy. It is also a good use for the enormous heads of cauliflower we get this time of year since it freezes well.

You could use the blender on it before the pasta if you had less time, I think. I like my soup a little bit chunky.

One thing to use an immersion on is zucchini soup, or like butternut squash soup, stuff likethat. Potato-leek too. (which is easy but requires chopping.)

I try to keep homemade chicken soup and vegetable soup in the freezer for days when I feel puny and must have "sick soup". If that's not available, I usually get won ton soup.

If I'm stopped up, have a sore throat and/or a cough, I mix up a concoction of heated lemonade, Hall's honey lemon cough drops and honey. I use about a quart of any kind of lemonade, a bag of Hall's and a generous amount of honey. Heat it until all the Hall's are melted and then add the honey. Let it cool a bit so it doesn't burn. Just smelling the steam clears my sinuses. Sometimes, I add a little bourbon.

Or cola cooked on the stove top with lots of ginger. I know it sounds weird but it's really quite nice. It was taught to me by a Chinese friend who told me it was very popular in Beijing. Just peel and smash/chop a good chunk of ginger. Put it in a saucepan with a can of Coke. Cook for a few minutes longer than it takes to just heat through. Strain out the ginger. Cool to drinking temperature and enjoy.

Thanks. I'm going to keep the ginger in mind. I'm a big ginger and ginger ale fan, especially when feeling puny. I've never heated coca cola, but I can almost taste that sensation and it probably comes from the old coca cola drenched hams my Mom made when we were young. I always loved the drippings.

I drink my concoction between other concoctions specifically to assist in opening clogged sinuses, soothing the sore throat and/or helping with the coughing.